Wow, but yes. A member since 2003, but pretty lapsed now, I just popped in and at first expected to see a mass of posts under Current Affairs. What I saw were my own posts from ages ago! So I guess not many people are looking and reading. The other day a pal dropped of a big pile of old mid-90s "Fortean Times" hardcopy mags. Looking through them got me to thinking of all the topics HP once covered, so here I am.
Sad to see it so quiet, and the missing names, but it's true that things wax and wane in life. Nothing is static. Wow, I still remember when on HP, under just "Spirituality" alone, there might be scores of posts in a day.
I think Giles' explanation hits some nails on the head. HP was relatively uncommon years ago and just anything could be discussed here, from Nessie to someone saying they were feeling low. One can't ignore the rise of Facebook and other social media - though people largely get mighty puzzled there if I post about conspiracies, UFOs, and other oddities!
Anyway, so this is my wordy way of saying "Hi" to all who knew me, a few of you even in RL 🙂 Yup, there used to be HP meet-ups of varying success.
Along with the rise of social media (which HP actually was and filled in for quite early on!) I think sites and discussion groups also have a critical mass? Put simply, if they are very active with many posts, then they are attractive and remain above that critical mass. Drop below it, and visits in general will fall away. That's one theory off the top of my head, anyway!
Hi
Just back myself after a long time.
So keep in touch.
Love and peace to all
I agree with the 'critical mass' notion. Without an influx of new contributors to counter-balance the disappearance of active members (for whatever reason), forums can become stale and uninteresting. If that happens then by definition there's less to attract new members.
Hence the critical mass is likely to remain below the 'trigger point' of self-sustaining interest, a hard situation to remedy.
Hello,
I'm new to the site and just finding my way around. I think its great, so much to read. I was wondering if anyone was free to do a reading?
Lots of Love
Gennyxxx